Shloka 2
Adhyāya 16 — Daiva, Kṣatriya-dharma, and Public Reassurance to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
द्यूतापह्तराज्यानां पतितानां सुखादपि । ज्ञातिभि: परिभूतानां कृतमुद्धर्षणं मया
dyūtāpahṛtarājyānāṃ patitānāṃ sukhād api | jñātibhiḥ paribhūtānāṃ kṛtam uddharṣaṇaṃ mayā ||
वैशम्पायन बोले—जूए में जिनका राज्य छिन गया था, जो सुख-समृद्धि से भी गिर पड़े थे और अपने ही कुटुम्बियों द्वारा अपमानित होते थे—उन्हें देखकर मैंने उनके मनोबल को जगाने के लिए उन्हें कर्म और युद्ध के लिए उकसाया।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how loss of rightful sovereignty through adharma (here, the dice-game) leads to social humiliation and moral crisis, and how such degradation can become a catalyst for decisive action—raising questions about when rousing someone toward conflict is justified as a response to injustice.
The speaker explains his motive: because the dispossessed were stripped of their kingdom by gambling and were scorned by their own relatives, he deliberately encouraged and energized them—implicitly toward the struggle that followed.